Fletchers....

[hmclem]

I am having a little trouble know if I am following the right "Fletcher" line and was wondering if anyone would be able to help.

My great grandfather was Walter Enos Fletcher (1184-1930). I have his marriage certificate which shows his father as John Fletcher - occupation Fish Hawker, not sure what that is. Using his dob and fathers name I was able to find the census records showed his place of birth as the Ilse of Wight. The 1891 and 1901 records show his father, John Fletcher as being born in Cheriton, Hampshire in about 1841 with a wife of Sarah Jane but the occupations are different.

This is my first red flag as to wether I am going along the right path.

All the census records I can see which seem to match John and Sarah Jane do not show that they ever lived in the Ilse of Wight though! which again I think might be a bit of an anomaly what with Walter Enos being born there! I am trying to track down Walters birth cert but not having much luck at the moment.

Using the information on the 1901, which showed a number of other children, I then used this to match census information with the same family members for John Fletcher back to 1871. I cannot find the census for 1861 or any record of a marriage to Sarah Jane or Sarah.

My research led me to believe that Johns parents where Thomas Fletcher and Priscilla but before I take it any further I was hoping to make sure that I was going along the right path. Perhaps where I can find more information to corroborate what I have found.

I did think that Priscilla was Priscilla Whatley but the only marriage I can find to here is to a Thomas Futcher. There is a Thomas Futhcher listed as being born in Cheriton so perhaps it is not here either.

Any help or pointers on where to go would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[JJen]

Hi,

This could be his birth record -

Walter Enos Fletcher
q4 1884, Isle of Wight
Vol 2b Page 629

GRO has the above birth with mother's maiden name - Lawrence

JJ

[JJen]

Baptism -

Walter Enos Fletcher
Christening - 25 Oct 1885, St Helens, Hampshire
Father   John Fletcher
Mother   Sarah Jane Fletcher

JJ

[JJen]

There is a marriage of a John Fletcher -

q1 1871, Winchester
Vol 2c Page 123

On the same page is Sarah Lawrance (as transcribed)

JJ

[Dundee]

All the census records I can see which seem to match John and Sarah Jane do not show that they ever lived in the Ilse of Wight though!

They were living on the Isle of Wight in 1881.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q274-L7D4

Both FreeBMD and the GRO indexes have the births of Walter and his siblings so I don't know why you can't find them.  The GRO indexes also have mother's maiden surname so it is easier to find the correct births.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/Login.asp

Debra 

[hmclem]

Thanks JJ and Debra.

I never knew Shorwell was on the IoW! That'll teach me to learn more about the places rather than relying on the county (I.e Hampshire).

I have also never used the gro index. Will def have to start using this

[Dundee]

Make sure you use the option of similar sounding names to get both LAWRENCE and LAURENCE and anything else weird they might come up with.  I think Alice was registered in 1868 Winchester as LAWRENCE - a dash for the mother's surname generally means that the child was illegitimate.

Debra 

[hmclem]

I think I had blindly been assuming the marriage was before the birth of Alice and had not considered that there could be any illegitimate children!

I also didn't realise that mothers maiden names were shown on the GRO. This is going to be a fab help

[ThrelfallYorky]

Oh, and a fish hawker would be someone who sold fish - most probably by hawking it door to door rather than from retail premises.